The Chris McDermott Trio takes a new approach to Steely Dan

Wednesday

Nov 8, 2017 at 9:49 AM

Chris McDermott has prioritized the way he refers to himself as a musician. The multi-instrumentalist from Delaware, who moved to Boston to attend Berklee in the late-’70s, lit out for the woodsy wilds of Groton, lived in the Caribbean for a while, and is now back in Groton, says, “I think of myself first as a guitarist and then as a songwriter and then a singer.”

He’s worked in a number of bands, has taken to the stage as a solo act, has six albums on his résumé, and is constantly writing new material and shifting from style to style, genre to genre. His upcoming matinee show at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge on Nov. 12 will be in trio format, with McDermott singing and playing both electric and acoustic guitars, accompanied by Jorge Perez/Albela on hand percussion, and Jim Haggerty on bass.

“I started guitar when I was about 7,” said McDermott, whose newest release is “Dirty Work,” a reimagining of songs from the Steely Dan catalogue. “My brother’s friend, who was in high school, brought an electric guitar over to our house, and was playing some tunes and singing. I was just mesmerized. I couldn’t take my eyes off the guitar and I haven’t stop thinking about the guitar since then.”

McDermott also admits to have fallen under the spell of both Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Beatles when he was starting out, but his life was turned around when, a few years later, he caught a live performance by blues-rocker Johnny Winter.

“I was 14,” he said, “It was the first time I’d ever been to a big concert. This was at the Philadelphia Spectrum and it was when Johnny Winter was at the height of his rock stardom. It was so exciting; the blast of energy that he sent out into the stadium was ridiculous. I felt that it was like this ball of fire that he threw into every person there, and for me, it never went out.”

But he quickly added that, even though, if he put his mind to it he could do a pretty good imitation of Winter’s fiery guitar playing, he never would.

“The most important thing to me has always been to be able to have something different to say, to have stories to tell and a sound to make that is worth going to hear,” he said. “There’s no point in doing it if you’re just imitating other people, because then you’re just taking up space.”

Part of that mindset might come from the fact that McDermott’s longtime main electric guitar – a bright red Harmony Rocket with more white knobs than you’ve ever seen – has a personality of its own.

“It’s not just that it looks really cool, it really has a genuine sound and vibe,” he said proudly. “When I play that guitar, I have to play it in the way that it allows me to play it. The guitar has a real voice of its own and it makes me play a certain way. I found it in a pawn shop in 1992, and the first time I plugged it in and made a sound with it something happened, and I’ve been playing it ever since.”

While McDermott actually searched out that guitar, having pictured one just like it in a dream, the Steely Dan project kind of fell into his hands.

“A guy from a small record label asked me to do it,” he said. “It’s not something I ever would have thought of to do, myself. But I saw an opportunity, and knew that it would be distributed and promoted and publicized, and I thought, what a cool challenge.”

Although his initial idea was to make a Muscle Shoals sort of album, with other players and vocalists, the money wasn’t there. So, he opted for a solo album ... of sorts, with material and performances ranging from a very laid back take on “My Old School” to a funkified “Any Major Dude.”

“I got a Korg Electribe, which is kind of like a club deejay instrument with amazing-sounding samples and looping,” he explained. “I came up with how I would play the songs, then programmed the Korg so that I could sit and just play guitar and sing along with it. I play bass and some keyboard on a couple of tunes, and except for my daughter singing backup vocals on ‘Home at Last,’ it’s all me.”

The bad news: McDermott ended up not going with the company that was going to put it out. The good news: He put it out himself, and it’s available digitally from any of the usual places where music can be downloaded.

McDermott will be offering up some tunes from “Dirty Work” with the trio, as well as tracks from his older albums at Atwood’s.

“I heard some guys playing at the club and I realized that I missed that kind of vibe and I needed to get back into it,” he said. “I’ll probably be doing some songs from my Wild Combo days, the more funk-blues-rock stuff.”

Upcoming Concerts and Club Dates:

Nov. 11:

Fiddler Alisdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas headline two shows for the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum in Lexington. (3 & 7:30 p.m.)

Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers have a CD release concert at City Winery in Boston. Ilana Katz Katz opens. (8 p.m.)

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